All Rise...

Editor's Note

The Charge

Nic and Jules had the perfect family…until they met the man who made it
all possible.

Opening Statement

"Right on, yeah."

Facts of the Case

Nic (Annette Bening, American
Beauty) and Jules (Julianne Moore, The Big Lebowski) are an ordinary
couple living in California. They have two children: an 18-year-old daughter
named Joni (Mia Wasikowska, Alice in
Wonderland) and a 15-year-old son named Laser (Josh Hutcherson, Journey to the Center of the Earth). Nic
is the successful professional, providing for the family with her job as a
doctor. Jules is mostly a stay-at-home mom, though she's tried her hand at a
variety of jobs over the years. Recently, she bought a truck for her gardening
business. Jules doesn't have any clients yet, but hey, now she has a truck.

Each of the women gave birth to one of the children after being artificially
inseminated by the same anonymous sperm donor. Now that Joni's turned 18, she
has the legal right to attempt to contact her biological father. Joni has no
interest in this, but agrees to make the call after Laser pleads with her. Soon,
the charming and friendly Paul (Mark Ruffalo, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind) cheerfully enters the lives of his biological children and their
mothers. His presence triggers a series of unexpected events, causing everyone
involved to re-examine their lives and relationships.

The Evidence

The characters in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right are so
well-defined from the beginning that we feel we know them within minutes. Even
so, they all have surprises hiding underneath the surface, some of which are
buried so deep they aren't even aware of them. The film is accurately described
as a comedy, but the laughs don't come from cheap gags or artificial-sounding
zingers. The laughter in the film comes from the recognition of familiar and
occasionally embarrassing elements from our own lives, and it often comes with a
pinch of regret or melancholy. This is a good story superbly told, as sequences
that could easily have slipped into mediocrity remain resonant due to
Cholodenko's pitch-perfect tone and fair-minded direction.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the film is how much the it
communicates about these characters indirectly. There's very little in the way
of awkward expositionary dialogue to explain who these people are and what their
situation is; the screenplay finds ways to convey this information in an
entirely organic manner. The relationship between Nic and Jules feels so
lived-in; something many other films fail to capture in their portraits of
relationships. They have no qualms about openly communicating with each other,
but they've also formed the kind of shorthand that can be found in most
long-term relationships. Conveying deep familiarity takes more than a warm
"welcome home" kiss after a long workday, which is something The
Kids Are All Right realizes.

Though the film won near-universal acclaim, it's nonetheless been reduced to
"that lesbian movie" in many circles. Yes, the film centers on a
lesbian couple, but the film's intentions are larger than to simply declare,
"Hey look, lesbians can raise kids, too!" The film is a nuanced study
of human relationships, and it explores the complications that arise in the
lives of characters of different genders and sexual preferences when a new
element (Paul) enters the picture. The kids are both excited and a little
hesitant. Nic feels a bit threatened. Will her kids regard Paul as a parental
figure despite the fact that she and Jules are the ones who did all the hard
work? Jules is intrigued, and then too intrigued—she accepts a job working
on Paul's garden, then unexpectedly begins conducting a passionate affair with
him. No, really.

The film has come under some criticism for that last item, as some feel the
film is implying (perhaps unintentionally) that lesbians are secretly straight
women who just haven't met the right guy (a theory supposedly further supported
by the fact that Nic & Jules watch porn featuring gay men as a form of
sexual stimulation). However, such attacks are unwarranted. Cholodenko's
previous films have addressed the mysterious fluidity of human sexuality (a
straight woman enters into a lesbian affair in High Art, while Laurel Canyon offers a scene in which a
straight woman gets involved a threesome with her fiance's mother and the
mother's boyfriend), and The Kids Are All Right does the same thing to
compelling effect. It's the thrill of something foreign that appeals to Jules;
not a secret desire for a heterosexual relationship. It's also the thrill of
something foreign that excites the kids about the possibility of having a new
parental figure, and it's the terror of something foreign that makes Nic so very
nervous about losing the affection of her children.

The performances are superb across the board. As I mentioned earlier, Bening
and Moore are able to generate such tremendous warmth and chemistry; we buy
their relationship quickly and everything else just falls into place. Moore in
particular hits some different notes. She finds such splendidly subtle comedy in
the character's quietly loopy behavior; never going so far as to make fun of
Jules' quirks but still playing them for low-key laughs. Ruffalo's performance
is also quite fascinating, as the actor initially comes across as the usual Mark
Ruffalo character (friendly, easy-going, warm, a little sad) and then slowly
reveals the troublesome lack of character behind the non-confrontational
persona. Finally, Hutcherson and Wasikowska continue to demonstrate why they're
two of the most promising young actors working today; never missing a beat in
their key roles.

The DVD transfer is quite good, if a bit on the grainy side at times. The
lush imagery of upper-class suburbia is nicely-captured, and blacks are
satisfactorily deep. The sound is solid and unsurprisingly dialogue-driven.
Nothing's going to give your speakers any sort of workout, but it's clean and
clear. The only substantial extra is a feature-length commentary with
Cholodenko; the featurettes are nearly too short to bother with: "The
Journey to Becoming a Family" (4 minutes), "The Making of The Kids
Are All Right" (3 minutes) and "The Writer's Process" (2
minutes).

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Cholodenko's soundtrack selection is nothing short of spot-on (Jules and Nic
are listening to Leon Russell early on; Paul is listening to early, grungy David
Bowie), but the song snippets are often mercilessly short. The manner in which
the music is edited seems a bit harsh; I wish she could have given it a bit more
room to breathe.

Closing Statement

There are some emotionally raw moments in The Kids Are All Right, but
the film is ultimately a touching and entertaining one. The writing is truthful
and the performances are masterful; this one easily earns a recommendation.